A Distant Shine
by HazelSpade
Summary: A story within the world of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, starring a veteran magical girl named Jami. She leaves her home to attend college in another territory with her incubator in tow only to meet a new magical girl in the process. Will she be able to adjust to college life? Will she get along with the other magical girls?
1. Chapter 1

_They say that magical girls are rather young girls, but what if those girls were able to grow up through their despair and suffering, through their bloodshed and tears, through loss and torture, to face the world without anyone knowing? On very rare occasions, incubators seem to make miscalculations in their judgement. The contracted magical girls, therefore, are able to mature and live through their middle school and high school years. Their stories remain similar, however they are not all the same._

Jami rested her head on the palm of her hand as she gazed through the window of the plane. The view was the same as it had been for the past three hours- clouds and blue sky- but she had nowhere else to look. Nowhere that wasn't other people, anyway.

Every so often the plane would experience the expected turbulence over the mountain range. Other passengers would make comments about how frightening the experience was, and how they hoped the plane wouldn't go down, but this only made Jami roll her eyes. Clearly these people had never been in any real danger: didn't they know the likelihood of death was even greater just driving to the airport?

" _Why are you so tense, Jami?"_

The voice echoed within her mind like it was her own voice. The incubator sat on her tray-table in front of her, its head tilted just slightly to the side to convey curiosity into her behavior.

"You'd think planes would have gotten more comfortable. Instead you're ass-to-ass with a stranger or two." She responded.

The whirling of the engine and the air conditioners were enough to mask her voice from the headphone wearers beside her.

" _Was first class not available? Their accommodations include separated seating."_

"Yeah like I'm paying that much," Jami rolled her eyes again. "Took me two jobs just to afford this flight."

" _You could have borrowed money-"_

Jami flicked the incubator in the face in an attempt to shut it up, continuing to look out the window with a solemn expression.

" _You do know you can't behave like this in college."_

"I'm fully aware of that fact."

" _And if there are other magical girls in the territory-"_

"I'm fully aware of everything I will need to do. Please be quiet before I flush you down the plane toilet."

The incubator shrugged and curled up on the tray table. Jami continued to stare out the window in contemplation. In her previous territory, she and two other magical girls divided the land equally and would, on occasion, share the benefits of each kill. It wasn't the perfect setup, sure, but it kept her alive for quite some time. Now, with a new city, she was unsure what to expect. She would be one of the oldest if not _the_ oldest, but she never knew what other magical girls were capable of. It would be best to stay on the defensive for now.

Jami and the incubator exited the plane and waited for the shuttle outside to drive them to her college. The driver attempted to take her bags, but she insisted that she handle them herself. He seemed a little off-put buy the refusal of his offer, and seemed a little off as he drove.

"The drive should only take a half an hour. So keep from annoying me for that long, yeah?" Jami said to the incubator as it curled up in her lap.

The drive was as dull as could be: the highways were packed with rush-hour traffic, the skies were gray with city haze, and there seemed to be absolutely no color anywhere. Jami counted the minutes on her watch. Ten...Fifteen...Twenty...Twenty-nine...Thirty...Forty-five?

"Excuse me, sir, what's our ETA to Rosepath College?"

No response.

"Sir? How much longer will it take to get to the college?"

There was still no response.

Jami set the incubator down and walked up to the front of the shuttle. The man continued staring at the road, eyes wide and slightly glazed over.

"Excuse me, Sir, I said-"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence, instead being thrown into the side of the bus from the momentum of a sudden left turn. Her head hit the folding door by the front of the bus with enough force to crack the glass. Jami shouted at the driver, but realized she was too late when she felt herself become momentarily weightless. The vehicle had driven off the side of the road, and was now flipping over down a canyon. In the singular moment before impact, Jami was able to recognize the glowing red symbol of an hourglass on the driver's neck.

Bracing herself for a horrid impact proved ineffective, as there was nothing more than a small bump and what felt like being attached to a spring. Jami felt the back of her head with the palm of her hand to check the injury. Nothing serious, but something that would ensure headaches in the coming days. She stood up and looked over at the incubator, who was now sitting on the floor of the shuttle.

" _I don't believe you will be able to make it to the college unless you defeat this witch."_

"Yeah, whatever. You could have warned me that you saw the Witch's Kiss." Jami rolled her eyes and summoned a simple glove, smashing the side of one of the windows.

After crawling through the window, the heavy aura of the scene consumed her. The air was humid and almost sticky to the touch. There was no end to the labyrinth in sight, no barriers, just an infinite amount of webbing extending for as far as the eye could see. The bus itself was suspended and wrapped within one of the webs. Jami sighed and used a scrunchie to put her hair up into a high ponytail.

"I hate humidity. My hair already doesn't like to behave."

" _Is the appearance of your hair really that important?"_ The incubator jumped out of the window and onto her shoulder.

"Not really, I just don't want to show up to the college looking like I just fell into a pool."

A loud hiss from behind her interrupted their conversation. She saw what appeared to be a spider made from red and gold thread, advancing at a somewhat scattered rate. Jami raised her hand and was about to snap to start her transformation when she heard a yell from above her.

A streak of golden light rained down upon the spider and sliced it using a hexagonal pattern. The yellow light cleared to reveal a small teenager. Her light blonde hair was choppy, accompanying her magical girl outfit which showcased hexagons and points at the cape.

"Are you okay, ma'am? Please, don't be alarmed, this will all be okay in a few minutes! Here, would you like to sit down?"

She took Jami's arm and started leading her to the steps of the shuttle.

"No- No! Hey, girl, don't touch me!" Jami pulled her hand away and stepped backwards. "I was about to handle that thing, and, by the way, you put on way too much of a show just then."

"No, it's okay! I'm what's called a magical girl. But you won't remember that, just know that I have everything under control."

"Girl, listen. I _am_ a magical girl! I can handle this. Just stay here and don't use any more magic."

"You are?" The girl seemed confused. "Well, then we can team up, right? It'll be even faster if we do that."

Jami groaned in annoyance and glanced at the incubator on her shoulder. She asked in a low voice, "Do you know this girl?"

" _She is a new magical girl to this area. She made her contract about a week ago."_

"Oh, they can talk to you, too! I thought I was the only one who can see them."

The girl was still smiling with a pure innocence. It was the kind that Jami had seen time and time again. The eye that wasn't covered with an eyepatch was sparkling with childlike interest and curiosity, and a genuine intent to help others. Oh how she yearned for those days back.

"What's your name?" Jami asked.

"Mira! I'm Mira." She extended her gloved hand to her. "It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Jami. It's nice to meet you, too." Jami shook her hand quickly and let go as soon as possible. "Listen, I liked how quickly you decimated that thing, but that's using up a lot of magic on your part. If you can't be more efficient, just let me take on this witch, okay?"

"We get a grief seed once we're done with the fight, right? I can replenish the magic then. Come on!"

Before Jami could say otherwise, the girl had jumped down to one of the lower webs and was running towards the denser ones.

"How many other magical girls has she interacted with?" Jami asked the incubator.

" _She has only seen a magical girl fighting once. She has never spoken with another one before."_

Jami decided to play into the girl's childish naivete and follow suit. She snapped and closed her eyes into the blue-colored light's embrace, feeling the soft fabric of her magical girl outfit cover her and the cold metal of the elaborate bow and arrow that she fought with so many times before. The incubator followed Jami to where Mira was.

"I like your costume!" Mira said with a smile. "Blue looks really good on you. Not a lot of people can pull off that really vibrant blue, you know that?"

"Girl, we need to focus on getting this witch over with. I have places I need to be."

"Where do you need to be?"

Jami's incredibly annoyed expression was enough to get a cheerful, childlike laugh out of Mira.

"Okay, okay! I can do melee, I'm guessing by your bow that you can do ranged attacks. Cover me, okay?"

Mira continued to slice her way through the denser webbing with a golden longsword. Jami followed close behind and made sure that they weren't being followed by any creatures other than the incubator. The aforementioned incubator was indeed following, but was advancing much slower than the magical girl duo.

Cold rushed through the pathway as Mira sliced through a foot-diameter web strand. Instead of humid, the air was dry enough to irritate exposed skin. Mira gasped and covered her arms with her gloved hands.

"Jeez, why'd it get so cold?"

"The witch probably likes it that way." Jami said, pushing past her to continue walking in.

Mira followed close behind, though her face turned to intrigue and confusion with Jami's last comment.

"Witch's are that conscious y'think?"

"I don't think that, I know that. Witches make their labyrinths to fit them. Each one's different." Jami stopped walking and put out an arm in front of Mira.

They had reached the end of the pathway that they were following. The rest was a broken slide down into what appeared to be leading the girls into a cocoon made out of the webbing.

"Why'd we stop?" Mira asked.

"It's moving. It's going to come out." Jami responded in a low voice.

The cocoon shook once, then again, then once more before a large screech was heard from inside. Mira covered her ears with her gloved hands, while Jami just winced and tried to stand her ground. A completely spherical creature with eight thin legs emerged from the cocoon. Two rings orbited around the center sphere, almost like rings would surround their planet. The legs seemed to be connected with a single piece of webbing to the base. The sphere contained several star and upside-down moon cutouts.

"Oh, it's small! C'mon!" Mira jumped from the base pathway down to the witch and its cocoon.

Spinning in the air like a wheel, she landed and sliced the cocoon in half with both of her swords. The webbing disintegrated into the ground of the labyrinth, and small, incoherent words were chanted as it was swept away.

Jami stayed at the top of the ledge and aimed an arrow at the center of the witch's base. Mira entered her target range just as her fingers left the bowstring. The arrow narrowly missed the small girl's back, instead grazing her side.

"Don't get in front of-"

Mira wasn't listening. She quickly surrounded the witch in a sprinting circle, slicing off each of the eight legs from the connective webbing. She then moved closer in. The only thing Jami could see was a golden ring around the witch slowly centering in on the target until it was sliced in half horizontally with another screech. The ring stopped and formed back into Mira, who looked up at Jami with a large, toothy grin.

"I did it!"

As she spoke, the legs started to jitter and shake. Each one could be heard giggling and making small crackling noises. Mira quickly darted away as each leg grew into a fully formed version of the witch itself. Jami rolled her eyes and jumped down from the pathway, pushing Mira back.

"Stay back. Just stay back, please!"

Jami ripped the bowstring off of the bow at the bottom point and put her hands to the top of the broken part of the string. A mace formed at the string's broken point, made of silver metal and adorned with spikes that resembled thorns rather than cones with a sharp point. She spun the mace over her head, the string getting longer and longer with each spin.

Using this opportunity to their advantage, the eight copies of the witch darted in different directions around the section of the labyrinth and began to make more cocoons with their webbing.

"Um, Jami?"

No answer.

"Jami?"

Soon eight more copies of the same spider-resembling witch began to swarm the walls of the labyrinth. One lifted a leg towards Mira's corner of the labyrinth and shot out a string of webbing that completely engulfed Mira's legs. It dragged her to the ground and swung her up into the wall, back to the floor, and back up again. Each hit was creating more cracks from the force of impact.

Jami stopped focusing when she heard the cracking sounds and Mira's screams. She swung faster and faster, though she felt webbing start to harden around her legs and free arm as well.

"Mira, cover your neck!"

Mira did as she was told, and, as she was lifted into the air, Jami released her weapon and snapped her fingers. The circle above them that she had created morphed into what looked like a summoning circle, arrows raining down from the entire circle's area. The spiders screeched as they were pummeled with the sharp objects. As an arrow hit their center, each one disintegrated into the ground with their webbing. Mira was left on the ground and Jami fell from her spot in the air.

The older girl ran over to see if the other was alright, only seeing her face-down with her hands covering her neck. She knelt down next to her as the walls of the labyrinth faded into the scenery of the bottom of the canyon. The webbing had absorbed most of the blows from Jami's arrows, but she still had some slashes and scrapes.

"Sorry, kid. I have a first-aid kit in my bag."

Mira looked up as she slowly took her hands from her neck.

"Oh! Is it done?"

"Yeah?" Jami was surprised that she was so casual about the whole thing. "Yeah, it is. Let's find the grief seed and get out of this canyon, okay?"

"Okay!" She jumped to her feet and transformed back into her normal clothes.

This was the first time Jami got to fully examine the girl before her. She was short and skinny, her hair light blonde and choppy like she had cut it herself in front of a bathroom mirror. She had an eyepatch covering her right eye; the eye that was visible was golden and shimmering in the sunset light. She was wearing what looked like a work uniform for a coffee shop or cafe. Instead of wearing her soul gem as a ring on her finger, she wore it as an earring.

Jami left her magical girl form and found the grief seed in one of the cracks in the ground from her arrows. She picked it up and quickly used it, tossing it to Mira.

"Be careful with your magic, okay? You seemed to be using a lot to go that fast."

"Okay." Mira used the grief seed and tossed it back.

The incubator was waiting for them on top of the bus at the bottom of the canyon. It jumped down just in time to catch the grief seed.

" _The people in the shuttle aren't hurt, but we should leave in case law enforcement shows up."_

"Good idea. You know a way out of here, incubator?" Jami asked.

"I do!" Mira stepped into their conversation, smiling. "I can just carry you and jump up!"

"You're kidding, right? Your solution is to use more magic when you just used a grief seed?" Jami was so confused by this girl's logic.

"It's not that much, J. C'mon!"

Jami sighed and looked to the incubator- not that she was expecting much from its reaction- its face never changed.

"Fine. Just quickly, okay?"

Mira nodded and grabbed Jami, holding her in her arms and jumping up as quick as she could. Jami's eyes widened and she almost glared at Mira in the air. When they landed, Jami retreated back and brushed herself off.

"Who said you could hold me like that?"

"You didn't say not to." Mira laughed. "You're funny, J. You wanted me to come up here quickly and you're criticizing my methods."

"And who said you could call me J?"

"No one. But you didn't say not to, right?" Mira sat down on the sidewalk by the road.

"Please don't call me that."

"How about something else, then? Jami-mi? Mi-mi? Jam?"

"If you call me Jam I will absolutely kill-"

"Jam it is! Aw, that's so cute! I wish I could be called that. That's so cute, you're like blackberry jam, Jam!"

Jami hid her face in her hands and groaned in annoyance. The incubator jumped up onto her shoulder. Without another word, Jami left Mira on the sidewalk and began to walk in the direction towards the college.

" _You're leaving her there?"_

"Yes. I don't want anything to do with her. She didn't even help back there." She put her hands into her pockets.

" _To be fair, you did tell her to stay put."_

"Only 'cause she made things worse."

" _She could have been rounding them up for you so they didn't multiply away from each other."_

"You know what? Shut up. I don't want to hear another word from you tonight."

Jami continued walking for about ten minutes in silence before she stopped on the sidewalk. It was true: she could have been much more helpful if she had just told her to do something that would help her. She had no right to complain if she literally told her to not do anything while Jami's attack was charging. Guilt flooded her system and she looked back in the direction she came from.

She followed the path back to where she had left Mira, but only found an ambulance, a firetruck, and police officers examining and assisting the fallen bus. Jami left the flashing red and blue lights and turned around once more. If the girl wasn't there, then there was no use looking for her elsewhere in the dark.

An hour passed before Jami arrived at her college. She was able to check in and find her room after grabbing a quick bite to eat, sprawling out on her small bed with a groan. There were no sheets, just a mattress.

" _Why the groan?"_

Jami looked up and stared at the incubator. Had it really not processed the entirety of what went down in the last couple of hours?

"I'm exhausted, annoyed, sleep-deprived, and I spent a couple hundred on a plane ticket."

" _You can fix a majority of those problems yourself."_

"Didn't I say not to say another word? Zip it or I'll shoot an arrow right into your peanut-sized brain."

The incubator shrugged and curled up on the provided desk. Jami got up from her bed and peered out the window. She could see a few people playing frisbee, a number of people standing around and talking, and even a couple of dogs running around the open field. Perhaps she could have been one of those normal college students in another life- maybe even have had friends to go to college with instead of going out of pure necessity.

Reflecting on these thoughts, Jami set up her bed and plugged every necessary electronic into the outlets on the wall. She gazed up at the ceiling as she reflected on that evening. Mira was certainly a talented fighter, but she used up way too much of her magic in a relatively short amount of time. A familiar isn't even worth your time, much less magic to slice it into a perfect shape! Maybe she could take her in and teach her a more effective way to use her magic…

No! No, what was she thinking? She could never do something like that. Taking an immature child under her wing and trying to teach her would be a complete waste of time, not to mention incredibly annoying and headache-inducing. She cringed at the mere thought of it, but it soon faded as guilt replaced the disgust. Aside from the inefficiency, there really was nothing wrong with how she fought. Jami _did_ tell her not to do anything during the fight with the witch itself.

"The day I associate myself with an annoying kid is the day I die."


	2. Chapter 2

_The stage is set. As the curtains rise, four girls adorned in red surround a queen bee inside of her own hive. Hisses and the screams of innocent victims surround the scene and the lights flash with anticipation. Yellow turns to a deep crimson as the girls try desperately to tame the queen. Drones and workers defend their queen with all of their might, tearing the girls apart. Blood boils. Blood spills. Tears fall to the floor. As the deafening volume suddenly halts, silence pours over the actors like a crashing waterfall. One phrase was echoed: "Don't underestimate your queen."_

Startled, Jami jolted up with a loud gasp. She grabbed her arm and her chest in a frenzy of panic. Both were free of injury and mostly healed from the witch fight off the cliffside. She sighed in relief and let herself fall back onto her pillow.

" _You seem distressed."_

The incubator was resting atop the windowsill staring at Jami with its usual expressionless face. She groaned and turned away from it to face the wall.

"Mind your own damn business."

" _Your distress is my business, given it can hinder your ability to fight witches."_

She got up from her lofted bed and dropped down to the floor, walking to the sink to splash cold water on her face. Looking into the mirror, she recognized the bags under her eyes. Sleep had been few and far between lately, and nightmares raided her dreams like soldiers in a war.

" _So, are you able to visit the new territory this weekend?"_

"Yeah. I'm not going to do all of that new student crap. We're leaving in fifteen."

" _Do you not have someone that needs to keep track of you?"_

"I have an RA, but I don't have to-"

There was a quick knock at her dorm door. Without thinking, she rolled her eyes and opened the door. Right as she was about to ask what they needed, expecting it to be the RA or another figure of authority, her eyes widened and she stepped away from the door. A big toothy grin was awaiting her, belonging to the magical girl that she had met the day before. She was wearing the same coffee shop uniform that she was before, although this time with a different, yet similar, eyepatch.

"Jam! I didn't know you were going to college here! It took me forever to find your dorm, I had to get around locked doors and everything."

"What the hell are you even- get in here!" Jami grabbed her and pulled her inside, shutting the door. "What the hell are you even doing here?"

"I wanted to show you around today. The little guy said it would be okay, and that you needed a tour of the area anyway."

Jami slowly turned her head and glared at the incubator still resting on her windowsill. Its tail flicked in the air, but there was no other reaction. Of course it had gone behind her back and made this girl aware of where she was, it just had to.

"I'm busy today. I have to do orientation with my classmates," Jami lied, her eyes darting away from Mira's.

"That's silly! I heard you saying that you're not doing the 'new student crap,' right?"

Jami just wanted to yell at her. She wanted to tell her that she was annoying her and actively making her situation worse, wanted to tell her that she was way too naive for this line of work, and idiotic to think that she could just get away with sneaking into a girl's dormitory without permission. Just as she opened her mouth, she remembered the night before. She remembered walking away from her without a word on the cliffside, and actively contributing to their hardship in combat by telling her to do nothing while her attack charged. Guilt. It hurt, stung even.

Mira looked up at Jami, seemingly not noticing the mental argument she was having with herself.

"I'll go with you. Just give me a minute to get dressed, okay?"

The girl beamed with joy and clapped her hands together. Her grin was almost too much to handle; it was full of the childhood joy that could only be shown in the best of circumstances. It made Jami pause for a moment. Why had she been so rough on this innocent girl? Another flood of guilt swept through her.

Jami changed her clothes behind her lofted bed as Mira watched some of the orientation tour groups from the window. She would point out what each group was doing or where they appeared to be going, even commenting on how some were dressed or what they were wearing. Behind the bed, Jami just changed into jean shorts and a black shirt, covering herself mostly with a large jacket.

"I'm done. So where are you taking me?" She asked as she slipped on her shoes.

"Oh, right! I thought I would show you where all of the hospitals are and where most fights break out. They're typically in the shadier parts of the city, but we'll be okay."

"You've been there before?"

"Is that surprising?"

"Yeah. You're like four feet tall."

"Most magical girls are young, aren't they? You're the abnormality."

Jami stopped and narrowed her eyes at the girl. Sure, she brought it up, but it was a rude word to use in these circumstances. Shouldn't the girl be thanking her for helping her maintain the territory? She had years of experience, not like this rookie.

"Uh-huh…"

The incubator jumped down from the windowsill and walked towards the door. It looked up at the girls and tilted its head.

" _Shall we get going, then? I believe the last of the tour groups has left the dormitory."_

"Sounds good!" Mira skipped to the door and opened it, smiling to Jami. "After you!"

As all three of them exited the building, there was something that Jami noticed. Just at the right moment when the sun hit her skin, she noticed something deep and dark red underneath Mira's eyepatch. It was only for a moment, but it was enough to merit at least some concern. She really didn't know anything about this kid.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?" Mira's smile was as bright as always.

"What happened to your eye? Or, um, why do you need the eyepatch?"

"Oh! I got hurt a while ago, so it doesn't look very nice now. A lot of people get scared when they see it, so I just wear the eyepatch. It's a lot easier."

"Right. And when did this happen?"

"Why do you wanna know?"

"No reason, I guess I'm just curious."

"It was long enough ago. I've let go of it now. I don't want to be angry or sad or regretful, I just want to be happy."

Jami found herself staring at the younger girl, almost in shock. Why was she giving such a vague answer, much less a vague answer that seemed so optimistic.

"So you won't tell me?"

"I don't like to bring up bad things," Mira said bluntly. "And I would appreciate it if you would respect that."

There it was. The first hint that Mira wasn't just a smiling doll of pure white. It was almost impressive, hindering Jami's ability to reply. If Jami were to respect that choice, then she would have to treat Mira as an equal, as just another peer. But she couldn't do that, right? Mira was so much younger than her! She couldn't allow some kid to tell her what to do. But perhaps she had to make an exception for another magical girl.

"Yeah, I can respect that."

The three of them continued on their way, and spent the day walking through the city. There were two hospitals that Jami noted, one for the city and one specifically for the college that she would be attending. No grief seeds or witches had taken over any of these areas, which was a relief to both girls. In addition to the hospitals, Jami took note of sketchy-looking bars and adult entertainment establishments within the inner city. When they passed a few, she made Mira walk behind her and close to her. Mira just found this amusing, but Jami really didn't want to have to deal with her getting hurt or harassed.

"Hey, Jam?"

Jami looked back at Mira and stopped walking, the incubator following suit. They were just about to head down one of the streets leading to the college. Street lights just began to flicker on, triggered by the vanishing sunlight.

"What?"

"Can we walk around, or go down a different street?"

"Why?"

This piqued the incubator's interest, and it looked between the two girls with a blank stare. Jami, on the other hand, was already getting tired. They hadn't eaten aside from a snack or two from Mira's small backpack, and she really just wanted to get to bed.

"This is the fastest way to the college, kid." Jami sighed. "You got a better route?"

"No, I just think that this one isn't safe."

"Can you please stop speaking so vaguely, why don't you want to go down this street?"

"A girl with something in her hand- pink- a pink knife!"

Jami looked down the road, and even around the corners of the closed stores. Nothing that she found remotely matched Mira's description, only a poster for a new video game outside a gaming store that featured a girl in pink holding a pistol.

"Are you sure you didn't just see a poster and get confused?"

"No, she's not there now, but she will be, and I don't like it when people carry knives. It always means they're up to something-"

Her words were coming out faster and faster, her hand motions erratic. It was becoming clear that she was not going to continue walking down the road, at least not in the direction she was warning against. Jami conceded, and they turned around. After turning around, though, they heard an offended gasp from up above them.

"For real? That one eye you have left must suck, 'cause I'm not holding a knife."

A girl appearing a little older than Mira was standing atop the gaming store, wearing an oversized pastel pink hoodie that matched her updo with a white pleated skirt. She jumped down to face the two girls, her platform sneakers giving her a slight edge in height over Mira.

"Oh! Sorry, I thought you were!"

Mira's tension almost instantly dropped, her shoulders even lowering after a deep exhale. Her smile was back, too, but Jami was on the defensive. She could sense that this girl wasn't just a human, especially after not breaking her legs falling a little more than a story.

"What were you doing on the roof of that store? The last time I checked, they don't allow kids on top of stores."

"Wanted to stargaze, then I heard you two babble-brooks talking. Kinda got interrupted, kinda got annoyed."

"It's too early to stargaze-"

"Sorry we interrupted you, we're going back home!" Mira interrupted. "But you should get home, too. It's late."

"Can you tell her to quiet down? Her voice is giving me a headache." The girl rolled her eyes at Mira and stared at Jami with a resting face of pure annoyance. "Look, might be too early to stargaze but never too early to start a fight. Skidaddle on out of here, will ya?"

"You can't threaten me, pinkie, I've seen kindergartener's more threatening than you."

"Oh, good one!" The girl responded sarcastically, grinning with an eyebrow raised. "I guess there are no witches out tonight but I've certainly found a bitch out tonight!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Mira got in between the two of them with her arms outstretched. "No fighting, no name-calling, we're leaving."

"I dunno, it was just starting to get good." The girl put a hand to the side of her face, pretending to gaze into Jami's eyes. "Such great chemistry."

"First off, that's gross coming from a child. Second, I don't have time to deal with a pastel freak. We're out."

As Jami led Mira away, the incubator stayed between where the argument had taken place. The fact that Mira didn't know her yet could somehow see her coming was intriguing, and it doubted that the new face would just allow them to leave. The girl spat at the ground to get their attention, to which both girls turned and tensed. They were seeing down the barrel, literally.

"So which one of you wants the first taste?"


	3. Chapter 3

Both Jami and Mira stared at this newest predicament, Mira taking a quick breath in at the shock of it all. The girl was grinning at the two of them with her finger on the trigger of the pistol.

"Hey, hey, let's not get too mean here!" Mira held up her hands slowly and added with a nervous laugh, "We don't want the police to get involved in this."

The girl didn't respond, she only closed her left eye in a wink and pulled the trigger. Jami grabbed Mira and dropped to the ground. Mira's eyes were closed in fear, her body nearly trembling. Jami looked up and grimaced.

"You want a fight? I'll give you a fucking fight, pinkie."

"Sounds like an empty promise. You're laying on the street!" She walked over and stood over them, the barrel pointed right at Jami's forehead. "I can give you a running start, though, if that sounds better for you."

"Stop it! Both of you, stop!" Mira had raised her voice, her face changing from its normally happy demeanor to one of a frustrated mediator. "I'm not going to let you do this."

Mira stood up and summoned two swords, putting them in an "x" formation as a barrier. Jami looked up at her, angry that she would dare stand in the way of their argument.

"We can work something out. Please, just stop this."

The girl just snorted and laughed. Mira wasn't exactly the most threatening figure; she was small, thin, and not even reaching five feet which was quite under the girl and her platform shoes.

"You're not going to let me do this, huh? Alright. Guess I'll just have to shoot you instead."

Before Jami could get up and grab Mira to get her out of the way, a gunshot pierced through the air around the three of them. Jami's ears rang. She covered her ears in a failed attempt to lessen the pain, and could only see a streak of bright yellow light Time stopped. Her heart skipped a beat, but she could feel it, hear it, pounding in her ears. She couldn't lose to someone like that, she wouldn't let that happen.

Soon the ringing stopped and she found herself able to see again, albeit quite blurry at first. When she looked up, she saw Mira smiling. The surroundings were different. They appeared to be outside of Jami's dormitory by one of the entrance doors that needed a key-card. But hadn't they just been in the alleyway?

"What...What the fuck?"

"Sorry, I didn't want to have that confrontation right then," Mira said, bowing her head to her. "I decided the best thing to do was to retreat and let her cool off for a bit."

"We ran? But I just saw you get shot!" Jami stood up with a start, furious that she didn't understand what was going on.

"I didn't get shot. See? I'm fine!"

Mira held her arms out wide with a big, goofy smile. She was right that she had not been shot, and she was wearing her normal clothes with not a scratch on them. The swords that she had summoned had disappeared as well.

"How did you-?"

"It's getting pretty late, I'm going to head home. If any witches come, let me know, okay?" She waved and started to walk away, leaving Jami by herself.

It took about half an hour for the incubator to show back up at Jami's dorm. It jumped in through the window and sat down on one of Jami's notebooks.

" _So, I noticed that you two were quick to run from battle today."_

"Yeah. Not my first choice. That bitch needs to learn a lesson."

" _What are you going to do about it, Jami?"_

"Do you know anything about her? She had to have made a contract with you, I could sense that was no ordinary kawaii-ass pistol."

" _Keen observation. Yes. She made a contract with me last night, in fact."_

"Last night? That's really recent, and she's already picking fights?"

" _That seems to be in her nature."_

Jami groaned and rolled her eyes. The incubator never really was of much help, and the tone of its voice made her more annoyed than before more often than not.

"God, that girl is such a prissy ass b-"

" _Talking profanities outside of her earshot will only do you so much good. What would you like accomplished from this?"_

"I want her to leave me alone!"

It was at that moment that Jami realized that the door had been open. A girl, about a year or so older than Jami herself, was standing in the doorway. She looked concerned, almost sad at what was happening.

"Miss Ward?"

Jami turned to face the door and cleared her throat.

"Um, yes, what can I do for you?"

"My name is Autumn, I'm your resident assistant here in this dorm hall. May I speak to you for a moment in my room?"

"Sure." Jami grabbed her purse and followed the young woman to her room.

The room was mostly decorated with pastel pink, white, and rose gold. There were a number of inspirational calligraphy quotes printed out either taped to the wall or framed. A couch sat underneath the lofted dorm bed with another couch across from it. Autumn sat down on the one underneath her bed, Jami taking the one opposite.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" Jami asked.

"As your residence assistant, I need to make sure that I keep tabs on everyone here." She crossed her legs. "It's come to my attention that you haven't gone to any orientation events nor any incoming student events, and you haven't come to the meeting that was mandatory for everyone in this building."

"Oh, yeah, that. Um, I'm just really not good with people," Jami was mentally cursing the girl out, but tried to keep a relatively awkward body posture and manner of speaking. "I didn't know where a lot of stuff was and I woke up late, and I just-"

"You also came in and started yelling during quiet hours."

"Quiet hours?"

"You would know what those are if you came to the meeting."

The girl sighed after that last comment and waved her hand dismissively.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I'm just worried about you. I'm here to make your transition into college life as seamless as possible, and it's not very helpful to you to skip out on all these resources."

"Uh-huh."

"Do you have any intention of finishing your four years here? It seems to me that you lack motivation, which is concerning me."

"I mean, sure, I want to finish my four years here. I kind of need a degree to get any decent paying job in the future."

"Good. Just keep that in mind, okay? I know the transition can be really tough, especially if you're not around people that are in your situation, but just try to get through these first couple of weeks, alright?" Autumn gave her a reassuring smile. "I promise it'll be great, and I'm here to help you every step of the way."

"Thanks. Can I go now?"

"Yes. Just be quiet, okay? Quiet hours are from 11 PM to 6 AM."

Jami nodded and got up off the couch. For a split second she could see Autumn's eyes dart from the window back to looking at Jami to see her off.

She quietly closed her dorm door and promptly sprawled out on her bed. The incubator was on the windowsill.

" _It would seem as though you got into a bit of trouble."_

"I don't see it that way. Now shut up, will you? I'm going to try and get some sleep."

The incubator bowed its head in acknowledgement and jumped from the windowsill. It scampered through the parking lot and onto the main pathway leading away from the college, jumping up onto a familiar shoulder.

"Oh, hi!" Mira smiled, continuing to walk on her path. "Glad to have someone walk me home."

" _Were you able to get settled like you wanted to?"_

"Not exactly. Furniture's really expensive, you know. One table can cost hundreds of dollars!"

" _Hmm. That does seem like an awful lot."_

"Doesn't it? Oh well, I've got all that I need included in the rent anyway. Plus some things that I have."

Mira unlocked the door to an extremely small and bare apartment. It was a studio apartment with no furniture aside from the built-in kitchenware and a mattress with an accompanying blanket on the floor of the room. She closed the door and put her work uniform clothes and eyepatch into a small washing machine, immediately going into the shower. The incubator came with, jumping into the shower to relax in the steam and wash in the water that inevitably hit it from the shower head.

"Do you think Jami likes me?"

" _It's hard to tell if she likes anyone. I don't even think she likes me very much."_

"Really? That's kind of crazy. She had to have trusted you enough to make a contract."

There was a moment of silence where Mira was scrubbing shampoo in her hair. The shower briefly caught a light citrus aroma as small bubbles lifted into the steamy air.

"What did she wish for?"

" _Do you want to know? I know that you are adamant about me protecting your motive."_

"You're right, I should stay out of other girls' business." Mira sighed and rinsed her hair. "Sorry."

" _You have no need to apologize."_

Once she was done, she dried herself off with a towel and changed into her matching set of yellow polka-dot pajamas. The incubator jumped up onto the mattress on the floor and curled up on one side of the pillow. Mira laughed and picked up her toothbrush.

"You're really funny. You're like some kind of cat."

" _We are not related in the slightest. I don't come from this planet."_

"Guess not," Mira mumbled through brushing her teeth.

The incubator peered around at her apartment. Most magical girls kept their soul gems on their person at all times as rings, but Mira kept hers as an earring which she could take on and off. It supposed that she would never be outside of the distance limit from her soul, but it was cause for mild intrigue.

She sat down on the mattress and sighed as a passing train shook the apartment. Mira was unfazed, just staring at her feet as she watched the lights flicker by and heard the window rattle along with the massive train moving top speed past her residence.

"I don't like that train," she said as she pulled the blanket over herself.

" _At least you can tell when it's coming."_

"That's true."

Mira gave the incubator a pat on the head before turning over onto her side and closing her eye.

"Good night."

The incubator watched Mira fall asleep and headed outside through one of the ventilation vents, ending up back outside in front of the housing units. It let out a breath and started to walk in the same direction it had come. It walked past the university and through the streets of the city up to the video game store where the confrontation had taken place beforehand.

"Glad to see you actually came back." The girl said, looking up from reading a magazine.

" _I do know where the three magical girls live, but one lives further from the rest. It took me quite some time on foot to get back to you."_

"Interesting. Does one live on the edge of town or something?"

" _Yes, by the transit station."_

"Interesting."

" _The other two live within the perimeter of the university."_

The girl put the magazine on the ground face-down in order to save her page. The incubator walked closer but did not sit down with her.

"That's weird that there are two older magical girls in this town. I sort of thought magical girls can just stay young and cute."

" _Every human ages."_

"I guess so. That kinda sucks, though, I don't want to grow up."

" _You can certainly use your magic to keep yourself from aging. It wouldn't be the first time that's happened."_

"Maybe I will." She picked up the magazine again and dusted it off. "So, about that kid."

" _Mira Estel."_

"Yeah, whatever, the blonde one. How'd she notice me so fast?"

" _She has a talent for sensing danger or possible harm. It is quite useful when fighting witches."_

"Oh, so I was a real threat to them?" She snorted slightly in an attempt to contain laughter. "I guess I was, but that's good to know."

" _Is that affirming?"_

"Totally. I'm only on day one and I'm giving them a scare!"

The sound of footsteps caused the girl to jump to her feet and summon her pistol. The incubator didn't seem worried in the slightest, but the girl knew that the incubator was never a good indicator of emotion.

"Who's there?"

Mira stepped out from the other side of the building. Her hair covered the eye originally covered by the eyepatch, and she was still wearing her pajamas only with the addition of slippers for walking comfort. The girl aimed the pistol at her and laughed.

"You've come back for more, huh?"

"Put the gun down. You know that this won't benefit you in any way," Mira said, standing her ground.

"Well what do you want with me, then?"

"I want to talk. That's all I want. And there's information that will benefit you."

The girl shrugged and tossed the pistol aside. Mira's shoulders did not free up any tension. She still knew that the person she was dealing with was unpredictable. The girl, on the other hand, sat down with her magazine and gestured for Mira to join her on the sidewalk. Mira sat down a safe distance away.

"So, what's this beneficial information you want to tell me?" The girl asked.

"It would be wise not to create inner conflict on your first day, or at all for that matter."

The girl just laughed. "Not that you can tell me what to do!"

Mira just stared at her and continued to speak as if she had not been interrupted.

"There are two magical girls in this city who have been active way longer than you. You're clumsy, you're trigger-happy, and you're too quick to violence. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that your quick reaction time is essential to fighting witches quickly, but they will not serve you well in diplomatic relationships. You can't operate on your own."

"Sure as hell I can-"

"No magical girl can operate alone," Mira continued, again as if she had not been interrupted in the first place. "What happens if you get sick and can't fight witches for two weeks? What happens if you break your leg? Or both? What happens if you get lost in a labyrinth and spend weeks or months without food or water in the witch's domain? What happens if the police take your violence as gang membership? What happens if you get hurt wandering the streets at night? What happens? You submit. You die. Your magic is all gone and you can no longer call yourself a magical girl."

"I would never-"

"With a group, all that changes. Yes, you get less of the reward for yourself but you are able to have backup in case of grave injury or illness. You are able to stay off of legal radar. You are able to protect yourself better, and help to protect others. Magical girls cannot be units by themselves, they have to form one. And if you don't get that,"

Mira lifted the hair from covering her left eye and stared directly at the girl. The girl took a deep breath and shifted slightly away from her.

"...And if you don't get that, then you have no use being a magical girl."

The girl was silent for quite some time, her mouth open with the threat that Mira had just made to her. She didn't want to leave the life of a magical girl- she had only had it for a day! Did being a magical girl really mean that you had to be a part of a cohesive unit? She certainly did not want to suffer by herself with any injury or illness, and certainly wanted backup in times of crisis. Was fighting witches that difficult? Would she have to give into the demands of a girl who was most certainly younger than her? She was younger, but she seemed to have more experience. There was so much to think about that she hadn't considered.

Mira was silent while the girl contemplated what she had said, moving her hair back to cover her left eye. The incubator looked into her eyes with its usual face.

" _It was a wise decision to convert her to your side."_

Mira just ignored them for the moment and continued to wait for a response from the girl. Eventually, there was a sigh.

"Ugh, fine. Fine. You got me, little b." She held out her hand. "Count me in."

"I'm glad! I'm Mira. It's nice to meet you," Mira said with a smile as she shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mira. The name's Ray."


	4. Chapter 4

_A single tap on melodic glass signals the resonance of hope. The moon rises and gives light to those in need of its glow, the light a warm and soft embrace in the face of harsh and cold strife. The red capes, colored in crimson blood and marked with scars and tears just like the skin, rise with their hosts. The queen is angry, but she is tired. She is tired of ruling over the colony of brutality. The only humane thing shall be done by the will of the moon herself. Death to the queen._

Fifty minutes passed, and the final lecture was over. Jami stood up and left the hall, not even bothering to zip up her bookbag. It didn't matter. No one was going to take anything while she was standing anyway.

The classes were as boring as she had expected them to be. The professors and instructors gave a ramble of the syllabus and expectations of the course, as well as assigning reading from textbooks that were listed as optional. It seemed that Jami was the only one not phased by this. Haven't any of them heard of the library? Clearly not.

She hadn't seen Mira in a couple of days. The only reminders she had that she existed were given from the incubator, who reminded her that she had to hunt witches with Mira soon or her stash of grief seeds would soon run out. It was somewhat boring not to have an annoying nuisance bugging her at every second with a high pitched voice and incredibly unprofessionally cut hair, but Jami seemed to like it that way. It was peaceful, for at least a few days.

" _Are you sensing something different in the area recently?"_

Jami glanced over to the stairwell where the incubator was waiting. It tilted its head to her, as if to ask her the same question again.

"Only that the graduate student instructors are incompetent. The professors are fine, but would it kill them to take at least one public speaking course? Or pass it, rather?"

She sat down on the same stair as the incubator, resting her chin on her hand and letting out a tired sigh. No amount of caffeine was enough caffeine it seemed.

" _Other than that."_

"I thought there would be more witches in this place and that I wouldn't have to roam around. I guess I have to actually go out and hunt, huh?"

" _That seems to be the case for the time being."_

"Jeez, you'd think a college would be full of stressed out weirdos. Whatever. I'm done with classes for today, let's go back to the-"

Her speech was halted when she heard a mass of people walk down the stairs and nearly flood the hallway. She couldn't zero in on any individual voice- it sounded more like the hum that a coffee shop would harbor rather than intelligent conversation within a group- but she was able to recognize some words: party, celebration, stadium, midnight, and many variations of the word "cool." After a moment of studying the group, her eyes laid upon one of the young men's necks. The symbol was unique, but the overall feeling familiar. Once the mass of people left, Jami stood up and immediately began walking to the door to follow them.

"Hello, Jami. Where are you going?"

Jami spun around to see a familiar face, one that she'd associated with the small scolding a few days before: Autumn Faye, the residence assistant and small bit of authority over her life at the moment. Instead of pajamas this time, Jami was impressed by her outfit coordination. A white, sleeveless blouse with just enough frills to be fancy without overly old-fashioned with high-waisted formal grey pants. She didn't need to wear heels to be tall, Autumn was comfortably much taller than Jami even with the flats she was wearing. Jami was almost jealous, her hair was styled perfectly and this was just the beginning of the school year!

"Nowhere in particular. Why?" Jami asked, leaning more on one leg to appear more casual, jostling her bag.

"I wouldn't get involved with those upperclassmen boys if I were you. A lot of them have cheated on their girlfriends before."

"Wait. What?" Jami paused then laughed, a genuine smile cracking on her face from this apparent joke. "Oh man, no way!"

"You were staring at them so intently, excuse me if I was mistaken."

"Whatever, it's not a big deal. I just have some things to do."

And with that, Jami left with the incubator in tow. Autumn watched them leave, her face solemn and somewhat concerned as a notebook fell to the floor from Jami's backpack. She clearly did not put effort into school today- Autumn could infer this just by the clumsiness and willingness to drop brand new school supplies. Jami shouldn't be concerning herself with these things, she needed to focus on her studies. A perfect record of continuing graduates was not going to be disrupted by one careless student.

Autumn just decided to carry on with her day. Following one of her students from the residence halls would be extremely weird and would definitely give Jami the wrong idea. She readjusted her purse after zipping it up and walked to the bus stop placed right outside the college perimeter, making sure to note that the route back to the college was running just a tad late. She took out her phone from her pocket and relayed this message to the housing staff who told her that another staff member would help her with head count.

The trip through the city was as boring as ever. Since it was a weekday, not many people were riding the bus out of the city, but she guessed that it would be much more crowded coming back into the city later. The same characters were on the bus: busy students, commuters, businesspeople and, of course, the one drunk or otherwise under-the-influence person. Autumn didn't necessarily condemn this behavior- it was natural for those in need to attempt escapism for their own benefit- but it really did make her worry. It wasn't worry for her own safety, but worried for the safety of the person who was clearly not in their right mind. There was not much she could do to help this problem with her tight schedule, and that is what irritated her the most. If her priority is helping students and those close to them, then why wasn't she able to help all people? It wasn't even a matter of distance, she was right next to the person on the bus and heard everything that the person said. With familiarity comes the loss of pleading ignorance, and with the loss of pleading ignorance comes responsibility.

The bus doors slid open at the final stop before a change in direction which prompted Autumn to exit and look around. The edge of the city was much less clean and maintained than the business and college circles in the center of it all. It really was a shame that such a seemingly beautiful city was surrounded by neglect and misfortune.

"Miss Fayen! Miss Fayen!"

Yes, Autumn was visiting someone; someone that she had known for only a matter of months and yet someone with which she felt she had years of bonding power. A sister in a matter of months, it was really something.

"Mira, it's wonderful to see you again. How have you been?" Autumn asked, sitting down next to her on one of the benches by the bus stop.

"I've been okay. I still haven't gotten my paycheck yet, even though he promised me it two days ago." Mira sighed. "I ran out of bread and eggs again."

"That's horrible. Here, let's go to the store right now."

Autumn stood up, but Mira still sat on the bench with a confused look on her face.

"But I don't have any money to pay for it, and I don't want to steal."

"No, sweetie," Autumn smiled. "I'll buy it for you."

"Really? But you don't have to, I have rice!"

"Eating nothing but rice is not good for you. I'll get the necessities and then you can pick out some vegetables or healthy snacks- Oh!"

She was taken by surprise by a rather tight hug from the small girl. She smiled again and gently pat her back.

"Thank you, Miss Fayen! Can we go now?"

"Of course we can go now. Let's go."

The two walked to the nearest convenience store and picked up what Mira had been running low on or had used up in between her pay periods. The total contents came to a loaf of bread, a carton of eggs, two oranges, a small bag of potatoes, soap, and a pack of batteries. Mira was beyond grateful and continued her barrage of 'thank you's, bows, hugs, and other gestures such as opening doors and holding the bags of groceries. Autumn was just glad that she was able to help out a friend, and told her not to worry about it. She wasn't going to allow a child to go hungry just because of some greedy manager or boss.

It did not take long for their reunion to come to an end. The sun was just beginning to set behind the train station and behind Mira's apartment complex. Autumn and Mira were enjoying tea and laughs on the floor of Mira's apartment; Mira was sharing stories with customers she found charming or funny while Autumn shared stories of interesting students or professors that she had run into that day.

"Have you made any friends since you started school again?" Mira asked.

"I suppose some of the students that I take care of in the dormitory can be considered friends."

"But no real friends?"

"No one that I hang out with on a normal basis, no. I have classmates, mentors, students I help, but I can't say that I have friends outside of you and others I knew before starting my degree."

"I thought school was a place to make friends."

"It is when you're a kid. Once you get older, it's more about making connections for a future career."

"Do magical girls have careers?"

"Sure! Many have gone on to do great things in history."

"Even though they have to fight witches all the time?" Mira asked, seeming genuinely curious in the matter.

"Sometimes fighting witches became their career and their legacy, but normal humans can't recognize that. You know?"

"Yeah. I wish other people knew about magical girls."

"Don't let the little one hear you," Autumn joked, referring to the incubator.

Mira laughed covered her mouth to hide her lasting grin. The light almost radiated right through her from the joy. Even if it was one small joke, a secret like a selfish miracle turned into humor was nice to hear rather than the reality.

"I already got what I wished for, I don't need another one."

"I agree with you," Autumn said, finishing her cup of tea. "May I offer you a bit of advice?"

"Sure."

"Don't let go to that mentality. Ever."

Autumn's light rose eyes were staring right into Mira's golden one, trying to get past the shine and joy to the person inside.

"What mentality?"

"Make sure that you really treasure your wish. Don't become selfish like the others. Please don't ask for more than you can handle."

"Oh, I won't! I know that I can only have one wish. The kitty-thing said so." Mira stretched her arms into the air. "I don't need another one. I like where I am now."

"I'd like you to keep that gratefulness in your heart. Sometimes magical girls become so used to their miracles that they want more, and they fight each other for it."

"I don't fight, Autumn! C'mon, you know that!" Mira crossed her arms and pouted. This just made Autumn chuckle.

"Don't worry, I know you won't. I just wanted to let you know."

"Okay. Cover your ears."

"Excuse me?"

"Cover your ears."

At that moment, the apartment began to shake and illuminate and flash with artificial light from the passing train. The train horn blared into the rooms of the complex, barely bothering Mira but seeming to put Autumn on edge. It seemed as though Mira lived right on the train tracks, it was incredibly loud and bothersome whenever the train came by. Autumn wondered how she could live like this, but living in a city is never cheap. You have to make do with what you have, and appreciate every little piece of fortune that you can get your hands on.

Otherwise, second thoughts would imprison both your brain and body.

"It's over now," Mira said once the train had left the station. After a moment without an answer, she repeated her statement. "It's over, Autumn. You can uncover your ears now."

"Oh, right. Thank you."

Autumn stood up and put the empty mug in the sink with the other dishes.

"Thank you for hosting me, but I really need to go for tonight."

"Why's that?"

"I have a meeting to get to. Oh! Can you do me a small favor?" Autumn asked, smiling.

At the sound of a set alarm at 11:50 PM, Jami quietly snuck out of the dormitory and back onto the main campus of Rosepath College. Her soul gem in her hand, she searched for a source of magic that she felt from the group of students beforehand. There was no way that the behavior she witnessed was anything other than a witch's doing. Even with cults being likely on a campus full of gullible young adults it wouldn't explain the witch's kiss on each of their necks.

A light from inside Jami's soul gem told her that the witch was nearby. It was a small but fierce bit of magic, something that she would expect of a mass brainwashing witch. Some witches were powerful enough that they only needed a single person to sew mass chaos into the world, but others needed a much larger army- and this army would be gathering at the stadium in approximately ten minutes.

Not even close to being a football field away from the stadium, she could see the vast amounts of students and teachers lining up to walk inside the small stadium doors. There even seemed to be people working as facilitators to let people through more easily and orderly.

" _This witch seems to be very organized and methodical."_

The incubator had not left Jami's side during the night. It was curious about the stadium rumor just as Jami was.

"Seems like it. I can't say I've seen this level of order to get into a witch's labyrinth before. It's really impressive, actually."

" _Very impressive."_

Jami blended herself in with the rest of the brainwashed crowd and slowly made her way inside the stadium. Everyone seemed to be aligning themselves in the stadium seats, filling almost every spot. Jami decided to jump the railing and head into the stadium itself, walking on the basketball floor with her incubator. None of the people seemed interested in her, they were just staring off into space.

"Stop! Give me that! No, give it to me!"

The yelling was coming from the line, and a quick glance quickly proved Jami's fears. Mira was attempting to tug away a bag from one of the line facilitators, holding up the line behind her and causing people to walk into each other and fall down, albeit slowly and not at all dramatically.

"Jami! Jami! You gotta help, he's got a bomb! He's got a bomb in the backpack!"

"It is no bomb, my young lady." The man grabbed her by the hair and shoved her aside. "It is a device with which our savior Genevieve will lift us from this cycle of routine and obedience."

"Doesn't mean it isn't a bomb," Jami grabbed the backpack as well as Mira's arm and sprinted back into the middle of the stadium. The man tried to follow but got caught on the railing, seemingly stuck there. It seemed that he could not go forward into the stadium even if he wanted to.

"Ah, then you are the one who is going to begin the ceremony!"

"What? No!" Mira stomped her foot down. "We're not doing anything! You need to all go back to bed, now!"

"Begin! Begin! Begin!"  
"Begin! Begin! Begin!"  
"Begin! Begin! Begin!"  
"Begin! Begin! Begin!"

The word echoed through the stadium like a drumbeat, every single person repeating the word in exactly the same rhythm as everyone else. Mira took a step back, but Jami was more impressed by the coordination.

"I appreciate the encouragement, but we're not doing anything."

She snapped into her magical girl outfit, letting the air settle around her before taking out her bow. Mira saw the opportunity and switched as well, watching to see what Jami was about to do. When she aimed directly at the man who initially had the bomb in his possession, Mira gasped and tried to get in front of her.

"We can't hurt normal people, Jam! We can't!"

"Move!"

The arrow shot almost directly at the center of his face, but didn't make it past the railing. Instead, it seemed to go through something invisible and disappear as soon as it hit that barrier, forming a large circular entrance with the symbol of a quill and many solid particulates.

"Oh! The entrance to the labyrinth!"

"Shut up and let's just go in." Jami grabbed her arm again and tossed both of their bodies in.

The labyrinth seemed almost unfinished, even though from Jami's estimates it had been around for at least an hour before she left the dormitory. Two-dimensional representations of burnt desks and overturned chairs littered the place, as well as small books that snickered and scattered about.

"Genevieve, huh? Fancy witch, not-so fancy place," Jami commented.

"Witches have names?" Mira asked curiously.

"Yeah. Sometimes you'll hear their familiars or the people they've brainwashed repeat the names."

"I didn't know they had names. But I guess every one of them is unique, so it wouldn't be bad if they had names. Every good villain has to have a name! Yeah, it makes sense!"

"Do you ever just stay quiet in a labyrinth and do your job?"

"But I like talking to you, Jam."

Jami rolled her eyes and just kept on trekking forward. The air was much hotter getting deeper towards the center. One book seemed to be on fire, running towards Mira with a panic in its bloodshot cartoon eyes. Jami quickly shot it with her bow and watched it turn into ash and dissipate into the air.

The more and more familiars they took out along the way, the more the two saw a pattern. They would only attack when they were on fire, and once they were killed the ash from the fire would raise to the very low ceiling of the labyrinth. For Jami, who was considerably taller than Mira, it was getting a little tough to breathe. She coughed and tried to wave away the particulates, but they did not go anywhere other than into her lungs.

"Jam! Jam, we can't keep doing this. See, when they die they make more smoke!"

"No shit!" Jami coughed out, covering her mouth. "We can't just let them run around like that, I can deal with this later."

"We have to run past them! I don't want you to get sick."

"I'm not going to be sick, I'll be fine! Just keep killing them so they don't get in our way later!"

"No, I'm not going to let you keep getting bad things in your lungs. It's probably really bad smoke coming from a really bad witch, you can't-"

"Shut up! Just shut up! I can handle myself!"

Mira closed her eyes and made her hands into fists.

"No you can't! You have to accept help!"

By now dozens of flaming dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, textbooks, and research papers were surrounding them, chanting chattering nonsense in a cult-like fashion. They were completely encircled by the familiars, with no path to exit in sight without making a path through eliminating the ones in the circle. Jami grimaced in pain; she knew that the more they stalled the more familiars would pile up, but if they killed the familiars that were surrounding them then she might not be able to breathe at all. She couldn't trust Mira to take out this witch on her own.

Mira seemed to have her own plan, though. Her eye scattered through the crowds of text and finally found something out of the ordinary: a rejection letter. She grabbed Jami's hand just as Jami had grabbed her not too long ago and, with her sword acting as a lance, ran through in a straight line towards it. Jami had no time to think or react to the situation other than to hold her breath and pray to a deity she didn't believe in to let her have enough lung capacity to not need oxygen for however long Mira was going to keep this up.

After cutting the rejection letter in two, the floor dropped down into what appeared to be a very distorted, fishlense version of a girl's bedroom. A powerful flame with jet black wings stood in front of them, hunched over a desk weeping tears of coal and hardened ashes.

"There she is! There's the witch!" Mira beamed, making another sword so she was dual wielding. "Let's take her out."

"If she's the same as the familiars, the more we hurt her the more the room will fill with smoke," Jami pointed out. "We have to beat her quickly."

"Or," Mira grinned and twirled her swords, making them burn with heat from the energy she was putting into them. "Or we can stay low! Let's go!"

Mira dashed straight into the chair the witch was sitting on and broke two of the legs. The witch came crashing down to the floor and sent books flying in her direction. Instead of slicing them, Mira just used the sides of her blades to deflect them. Jami started to charge an attack by detaching her bow and creating the mace at the top of the broken bowstring, swinging it around above her head to encompass the entire center of the labyrinth. Books continued to pile up around her, but she was able to keep them at bay by forcefully stepping on them with her heeled shoes.

The room was filling up with more and more smoke as Jami stepped on the flaming books, but she didn't care. So long as Mira had the witch vulnerable by the time her attack charged, there was no problem.

It almost seemed like Mira was engaging in a complicated dance than actually fighting the witch. She would dash to every single side of the witch and slice it while flipping, landing with a flourish of her small cape and sparkling hair. The dance was incredibly inefficient in terms of magic usage; Jami could see that it took more magic just to get in position than to actually attack the witch. She would usually be able to tell more accurately if she could see the magical girl's soul gem, but it was nowhere to be seen on her body. She had to be hiding it somewhere.

"Jam, she's on the ground! Let's go!"

"Alright, cover your neck, then."

"No need!"

As soon as Jami released her hand and the flurry of arrows came crashing down onto the witch and the remaining books and texts, Mira twirled her sword into a shield above her to deflect any that had come her way. It was genuinely impressive to see a melee magical girl be so versatile, but it was worrying with the consumption of magic- especially when Jami couldn't tell exactly how much magic she was using with regards to her soul gem's capacity.

The labyrinth soon faded and the girls ended up outside of the stadium where the grief seed appeared to be used as a paperweight for the rejection letter that Mira had sliced earlier. About to pick the paper up, Mira was caught off-guard by Jami taking it and ripping it up. The paper dissipated into smoke.

"Hey, what was that for?"

"Nothing good can come from something that was inside a labyrinth. Now where's your soul gem?"

Mira quickly changed back into her civilian clothes and presented her soul gem to Jami. It was starting to grow dark in the middle and swirl with desaturation. Jami immediately pressed the grief seed to it and returned it to its bright and glowing golden yellow. She did the same for her own soul gem, but the blue was not nearly as darkened and tainted as Mira's. She would have to give her a serious talk soon before it got her into trouble.

"Mira, we have to talk about something."

"Sorry, I have to get home. I have work tomorrow. Oh! But I have a gift for you!"

Mira dug into her bag and presented the notebook that Jami had dropped earlier that day. She didn't even realize that she had dropped it, but she recognized that it was her own right away.

"My writing notebook?"

"I guess so, but there's no writing in it. Can't call it a writing notebook if there's no writing in it, silly Jam. So, here!"

Jami dismissed it with a wave and changed her soul gem back into a ring, tossing the grief seed to the incubator who quickly ingested it.

"You can keep it. Guess it's a gift for helping me get to lower ground earlier."

"You're giving it to me?"

"Yeah," Jami didn't seem to understand what was so novel or intriguing about this situation. "It's got good paper, nice to write on."

"What should I write in it?"

"Anything you want. But don't go crazy, you have work in the morning, right?" Jami joked.

Mira beamed and hugged the older girl tightly. Jami was incredibly uncomfortable for the unwanted physical contact and tried to step away.

"Thank you, I'll make sure to put this writing notebook to good use!"

"I'm sure you will, now please let go of me."


	5. Chapter 5

Early morning was still, quiet, and peaceful. Darkness surrounded the entirety of the room, and despite the gloom somehow soothed the tired Jami into a much needed night's rest. Consistency within the songs of crickets and the sweeping of the wind pulled her back to unconsciousness whenever she was led astray by a thought or worry.

Sleep had always been few and far between for this veteran magical girl. She would often jolt awake as a result of nightmares, flashbulb memories, or simple anxiety about her situation and possible choices for continued existence. The ability to forget was a jewel in Jami's treasure chest of tools. She had used it many times- almost too many times to be considered healthy. Although, when faced with trauma, what other option do you have?

The incubator fed off of this trauma, using it to get Jami to fight even more witches and get involved with other magical girls. She had seen it time and again. When she would close herself off, she would suffer, then forget, then make the same mistake again. The incubator would remind her each time, and yet the mistake continued to be made. Although she hated the incubator being around, she needed it around. She needed that reminder to help her through her mistakes. And she needed a reminder that even she can make mistakes.

Elders make mistakes just as often as children.

 _Buzz_

[Text. 8:05 AM: Jami, This is Autumn, your residential assistant. I would like to have a meeting with you sometime today. Please respond as soon as you can. Thanks. -Autumn]

 _Buzz Buzz_

[Text. 9:00 AM: I would prefer to meet sometime this morning, if your schedule allows. Thanks. -Autumn]

 _Buzz Buzz Buzz_

[Text. 11:45 AM: I will be coming to your room. My apologies for the intrusion. -Autumn]

When Autumn used her all-access key to open the door, she was quite surprised with how dark the room actually was. The blackout curtains were drawn, no lights were on, and it seemed as though the light from the outside hallway was barely being let in. The incubator stood inside of the dorm room, watching as Autumn turned on the light inside the room. To her surprise, nothing happened.

"Jami? Is your electricity out? You could have told m-"

She was interrupted by a sudden flash of light from the lamp and ceiling lights, the hallway's lighting suddenly filling in the room. Autumn let out an audible surprised yelp, but Jami just stared unblinking at her unwelcome visitor.

"Why are you in my room? Aren't you supposed to knock or whatever?" Jami asked.

"I texted you three times, and there are rules that I can come into your room when necessary."

"Is this an emergency?"

"No, but it is an urgent situation. Please get dressed and meet me at the train station."

"Why? What's this about?" Jami was scrolling through the texts.

"It is about your record here at school. So please, just meet me at the station."

With the door closed, Jami let out an annoyed groan loud enough for Autumn to hear from outside. She looked at the incubator and gestured to the door.

" _I understand that you are upset, Jami, but I think it is best that you meet with her."_

"I can't believe I finally figured out I can use my magic to get a better night's sleep, and _this_ is what I get to wake up to. Fine. Fantastic. Perfect."

Jami started throwing on her clothes in a small fit and eventually was ready to leave. The incubator stayed near the door and waited for her, leaving with her when she was finally ready. The whole walk to the train station Jami was grumbling to herself, arms crossed in her fit. She was so comfortable in her sleep, so warm and finally at peace in her dorm room, and some wannabe authority figure forced her out of it and ordered her to get even further from her peaceful space.

How rude.

"Jami, thank you." Autumn smiled and walked over to her. "I'm sorry for barging into your room. Thank you for meeting me here."

"Whatever. What do you want?"

"I want to take a small trip with you, if you don't mind."

Jami looked dumbfounded, absolutely bewildered by this statement. _This_ was the "urgent situation" that Autumn was talking about? Just taking some dumb bonding trip?

"Don't you have things to do?" Jami asked, crossing her arms.

"Yes, like this. This is one of the things I have to do."

"I mean like work. Or schoolwork."

"I can ask the same of you."

Autumn handed her a train ticket. It was a two-way ticket to the edge of the city before it left into another. Kitre Station: one of the more sketchier stops on the way out of Rosepath. At the very least there were some good places to grab street food and a couple bars that would look the other way if an underage drinker came in- according to numerous internet searches before attending Rosepath College- but neither of those possibilities seemed to fit Autumn's motives.

"Kitre Station. I've heard of it."

"I don't doubt that you have."

The two got onto the train and sat in silence as the locomotive traveled towards their destination. Jami couldn't help but notice the outfit that Autumn was wearing. Her light pink skirt was shorter in the front than in the back, and her white button up blouse was covered in embroidered flowers, mostly pink roses. She was even wearing pink kitten-heels, as if she was going on some kind of date.

"You're dressed really nice. What's up?"

"Oh! I don't get to take many trips like this. I thought I would dress for the occasion."

"So this is for leisure, then?"

"Sort of. Diplomacy rather than anything else."

"Diplomacy? What, are you negotiating some deal in those heels?"

"Never underestimate the power of two inches of added height," Autumn smiled. "Especially when you're already tall."

Once the train had reached their station, Autumn helped Jami out and held her arm out. Her arm gestured to two girls waiting outside of the station whom Jami recognized immediately: Mira and the magical girl that had tried to hurt Mira and herself a few nights before.

"Um, okay what the hell is happening?" Jami asked.

"Jam! Look, look, I got her to agree to work with us! Her name is Ray and she's really super cool, she's even in a video game!" Mira grabbed onto Jami's arm and began rattling nonstop about the other magical girl, however Jami shook her arm to get away.

"Hold up, hold up. I'm not working with some chick who tried to shoot through my skull!" Jami looked at the ticket, then at Autumn. "Do you know these two? What the hell is going on?"

"Please calm down, Jami. I only just found out recently what had been going on between Miss Rachel and yourself. She agreed that she was behaving out of line and has apologized."

"So you're a magical girl, too?" Jami shoved the ticket into the pocket of her jeans.

Autumn flashed the ring on her left hand that contained her soul gem. It was between pink and red, a brighter version of her eyes. How could she have not seen this before? Was it because of all the other jewelry Autumn was prone to wearing?

"Great. There's four of us. This is just the _best_!" Jami started walking away, but Mira caught her arm again.

"Wait, Jam! This is good, right? More of us means that we can take care of the witches that are here."

"No, this is horrible! Do you have any idea how much less these kills are going to be worth now? Do you have any idea how heated fights get between magical girls? How do you know Pinkie isn't going to turn on us-"

"I have a name!"

"-Or how do you know any of us aren't going to turn against each other? We can't know, and that's why-"

"And that's why we're here," Autumn interrupted, glaring slightly at Jami and her small tantrum. "I got everyone together so that we can work out a deal peacefully. We are all entitled to the benefits of our work. If we need to compromise, we can, but we need to root out all problems now and reach a solution before any conflict arises."

Jami stood speechless as she stared at Autumn. She was right in a way, but she hated that she had to be so optimistic. Diplomacy really only worked between magical girls when they operated in different territory. Rosepath wasn't large enough to divide into four pieces without some overlapping territory during witch hunts. She'd seen this before.

"How about we go to my apartment and talk?" Mira suggested, smiling like her usual self. "I'm sure it's not that great just standing here."

"You have a place in this shitty part of town?" Ray asked. "Jeez. You'd think a magical girl would do better for herself."

"This place isn't so bad! Don't worry about it."

Mira started leading the group of magical girls to her apartment. It was right by the train station, almost on the tracks itself. It was almost completely empty, save for the mattress, blanket, and pillow being used as a bed. There was only one, very small, tea table in the middle of the room with a packet of coupons resting on it. Jami looked appalled.

"Welcome to my place! I even got enough cups for all of us," Mira announced, grabbing four paper cups from a cupboard by the electric kettle.

"This is really sad," Ray muttered, switching her posture to rest on one leg.

"Tell me about it," Jami agreed.

"Girls, don't be rude. Mira was nice enough to have us over, so be good guests, okay?"

Autumn didn't look too happy with them, but she ended up sitting between Jami and Ray at the tea table. Mira eventually joined them and gave everyone a cup of hot water and a box of tea bags to choose from. She chose chamomile, Ray chose lemon ginger, Autumn chose jasmine and Jami chose breakfast tea. They all sat together in silence waiting for their tea to steep before finally Autumn set a folder on the table. Upon opening it, she revealed a map and four differently colored pens: blue, yellow, pink, and red.

"So, I've printed out a map of Rosepath including the Kitre area all the way to the river. This is the extension of Rosepath territory. Across the river is the Livale City territory, so we need to be especially careful crossing that border. Magical girls there won't take our kills if we don't take theirs," Autumn explained. "Since it's not realistic to divide without a witch moving to overlapping territory, I was thinking we can have free range and free assistance throughout the city."

"So, it's a free-for-all?" Jami asked, sounding skeptical.

"No, not necessarily. See, I was thinking when one person kills, she will alert the rest of the team. Then, the team will all share the grief seeds right then and there. No hoarding grief seeds, either. We all need to be on equal footing here."

"Hoarding? I wouldn't call it hoarding if it's a limited resource," Ray rolled her eyes.

"Still, we want everyone on equal footing. I doubt we will have excess grief seeds given the spawning rate of witches in this city, but if we end up with a few then we can keep them in a shared location and only use them with everyone's knowledge. How does that sound?"

The three other magical girls looked at Autumn's face from their focus on the map. Autumn seemed to already have her mind made up, so was this even up for debate?

"I have a question," Mira interjected, raising her hand a little. "If we're going to share the city then why do you have four pens to mark things?"

"Oh, thank you! This is to mark where we live, and then a meeting place outside of our residences."

Autumn gave Jami the blue pen, Mira the yellow pen, Ray the pink pen, and held onto the red pen. Jami and Autumn marked their residence hall with a circle in their color, Mira marked the apartment complex next to the train station, and Ray circled the shopping district by the river.

"Perfect. Now, should we have a meeting spot in the center of town, or maybe somewhere out from everyone's places?" Autumn asked.

"How about just the college train station? It's in the middle of town," Jami suggested.

"Does that work for everyone else?" Autumn looked to the other two girls.

"Works for me," Ray shrugged.

"It's a little far, but I can make it!" Ray smiled, not seeming to care at all that it was out of her way.

Autumn marked with a normal black pen the college stop of the train station with a star, looking at the map with a small bit of a frown. After a minute of silence, she started talking again.

"Now, I doubt that the grief seeds will split evenly unless each soul gem is exactly the same proximity away…"

"Or whichever one is placed in front of it first," Jami added.

"Yes, that's true…" Autumn sighed. "Does anyone have any ideas for how we decide the order of grief seeds?"

Everyone was silent as each girl tried to come up with her own idea. Whoever took part in the battle first was the first idea, but then was talked down since this could create a chance of hostility. The second idea was the first person to see the grief seed to decide, but that was shot down for the same reason.

"How about seniority?" Jami suggested. "Oldest first, then youngest last. We use less of our magic anyway since we know how to use it."

Mira frowned a little at this idea, but Ray didn't seem to care.

"Sure, so long as there's enough for us," Ray shrugged and drank her tea. "If you guys use less magic then I guess it makes sense."

"Sure," Mira reluctantly agreed.

"Is that okay with everyone? In terms of age it will be myself first, Jami, Ray, then Mira," Autumn counted the names on her fingers.

Everyone nodded, and Autumn seemed relieved that everyone agreed on both the territorial disputes as well as the distribution of grief seeds. She let out a relaxed sigh.

"Perfect! Now we can relax since today isn't a school day."

"Yay! I even have chips, should I get out the chips?" Mira asked.

The four of them continued to hang out at Mira's apartment until dusk. Using Ray's phone, they streamed a couple movies and got to know each other through basic civilized conversation. Mira revealed that she worked at the coffee shop down the street, Ray explained how she got herself into the making of a video game starring her own persona, and Autumn had fun explaining how she got herself into assisting the elderly over the summer in an assisted living facility. She even had basic first aid training, so she showed the other magical girls how to treat common injuries from witch battles. The demonstration was mostly for the younger girls, but Jami did learn how to make a basic sling.

"Oh, goodness!" Autumn looked at the clock which read 10:45 PM. "I didn't realize it was so late! You two girls need to go to bed."

"We're not seven, you know," Ray rolled her eyes.

"And you're not adults, either. You need to sleep at least eight hours, if not more if you can manage." Autumn grabbed Ray's hand and helped her to stand up. "I'll take you home. Jami, we should leave Mira to get ready for bed. Can you help clean up a little?"

"Yeah, sure."

As Autumn and Ray left, Jami cleaned up the paper plates and cups that they used for snacks and tea. Mira used the time to wash her current clothes and eyepatch. When she took the eyepatch off, she moved her hair to cover the spot where her other eye would be. Jami thought about asking, but then realized that she didn't care. Mira's optimistically evasive explanation last time got her nowhere, and she didn't want to manipulate the answer out of her. She guessed it would just be something she would have to ignore, or rather _another_ thing she would have to ignore in order to work with Mira.

"Alright, everything's clean. I'm going to go back now," Jami put on her shoes by the front door.

"Oh, you're leaving already?" Mira seemed sad, but then smiled. "It was fun having you all over! We should do this again sometime. Maybe someone can bring a computer and we can watch movies on a bigger screen-"

With a simple nod and a "mhm," Jami was out the door. The incubator was soon walking alongside her back to the train station.

" _I wonder, why is it that she annoys you so much? You seem much more averse to her than any other magical girl."_

"There are some things I don't know. Now stop talking to me in public, I don't want to be another crazy who talks to herself."

Back in her room, Jami spent most of the night and early morning on her phone. When the sun started to rise, she groaned and attempted to use her magic to block out all of the light coming into the room. When successful, she rested her head on the pillow when a small buzz came in from her phone charging next to her. She rolled her eyes at the message and ignored it, though the incubator looked at it with intrigue.

[Text. 6:05 AM: This is your first warning about your attitude towards Mira. If you continue, we will have a problem. Good night. -Autumn]


	6. Chapter 6

With the typical hiss and unoiled squeak of the doors, Ray stepped off the train once again at Kitre Station. This whole area of Rosepath, effectively swept to the side of the city, was full of gloom, poverty and abuse. All of the wealth was concentrated in the center, and Ray never could fully understand why. Even so, it was the reason for her visit on this particularly muggy September evening.

She had just finished with school and one particularly exhausting day of work. Witch hunting by the shopping district and on the Livale border had proved itself futile within the last couple of days; no witches, not even one familiar to track down its master. The only place that Ray knew there would be traces of a witch, if not the witch itself, was throughout Kitre station and the surrounding area.

But then again, it had been a long day.

No person went unscanned as Ray made her way through the alleyways with small storefronts, stalls, and other salespeople. Everyone could be a target, and everyone was at risk for being a victim. Although it didn't even take ten minutes for a familiar voice and head of unkempt hair made her stop in her tracks.

"Thank you! Please drop by again sometime!"

Mira Estelle: a magical girl living on the Rosepath border who Ray could still not quite understand. The girl was idealistic but she didn't seem to be naive, cheerful without lacking traumatic experience, and caring while still being wary enough to live in what was essentially a ghetto. She wore a barista's outfit and donned an enthusiastic smile, gasping upon seeing Ray down the road.

"Ray! Ray, I'm so glad to s- mmph?"

"Do _not_ call attention to me," Ray sighed, uncovering Mira's mouth but taking her back inside the storefront she had come out of before to presumably say goodbye to a customer.

The inside was rather well-decorated for the average customer. The wood on the floor was almost a mirror, there were freshly cut flowers at every table and handwritten signs for coffee orders, pastries, and more. Ray's shoulders relaxed as she smelled the freshly brewing coffee, but then tensed back up as she realized what Mira was wearing.

"Not to minimize your hustle or anything, but aren't you too young to be working?" Ray asked.

"Shhh!" Mira put a finger to her mouth and looked around frantically. Upon seeing no customers were inside, she smiled again and put her hand down. "I am, but the owner lets me work here."

"Do you get paid? They can't give you checks, can they?"

"No, he pays me in cash! I make hourly, and also some tips. But no one really tips around here."

"You should work near the college or near the main shopping district. Those guys tip like they're bribing you."

"I couldn't do that! They wouldn't let me work there since I'm only thirteen. This is the only place that I've been able to work with a somewhat consistent amount coming in."

"Well then I guess I'll just have to bribe you myself."

Ray sat down at one of the booths, taking off her pink trench coat and sitting up with surprisingly proper posture. Mira laughed a little but got out a small server notepad and pen.

"What can I get you, then, Ray?"

"Let's see…" Ray looked over the small standing menu of specials on the table and then skimmed over the listed drinks on the wall. "I'll take a double-shot vanilla latte."

"Okay! One double- wait!" Mira pointed the pen at Ray, prompting a confused expression from the other girl.

"What?"

"That's _caffeinated_! That's _illegal_!"

"What? No, it's not? Anyone can have coffee, what the hell?"

"The owner says that I can't have coffee since I'm a kid. And you're a kid, so you can't have it either!"

"You've seriously never sold any kid coffee?" Ray looked like she was about to crack with laughter.

"No. Only adults come in here, really." Mira looked like she was thinking hard about it. "But the owner did say that I couldn't have coffee."

"Maybe he said _you_ couldn't have coffee, but I know that I can. It's not like alcohol, it's a normal component of drinks. Soda has caffeine in it, too, y'know."

"Soda has caffeine?" Mira looked shocked.

"A lot of firsts for you today," Ray snickered. "I promise you it's fine. Just make the damn latte."

"Okay, but I'm asking Miss Fayen later!" Mira called out as she went behind the counter to make the drink.

"Well she'll agree with me, so it doesn't matter!" Ray called back.

After a few minutes of remembering how to use the equipment, Mira came back from behind the counter with a piping hot latte for a very impressed Ray. The top had been decorated with latte art that Ray had only seen rivaled at the more uppity cafes in her area. It was a little bunny with small hearts around it. Mira seemed very proud of it.

"You did this?" Ray asked, looking up. "That's crazy."

"Yep! I saw the little bunny patch on your bag so I wanted to replicate it. I try to make art that goes with each person." She paused. "Do you like it?"

"I really like it…" Ray had to take a moment to admire it before being able to take a sip. "Thanks."

"Yay! I'm glad you like it!"

"Hey, since apparently it's a day of firsts do you want to try some of it?" Ray held up the mug for her. "Your first sip of coffee?"

"What? No, I still need to hear from Miss Fayen that it's okay."

"Oh c'mon, it's not like she's your mom or anything."

After a few seconds of silence, Mira finally gave in and took a sip. She recoiled at first, but then thought about it a bit more.

"Bitter, but I kinda like the vanilla at the end," she noted.

"See? Not as bad as you thought."

The girls continued to banter back and forth for quite some time before Mira noted that she had to clock out. At this point, it was about eight o'clock and the two decided to look for witches together in the area. Although, they were both exhausted. A full day of work and the addition of a full night hunting witches was looking worse to both of them. It was their duty as magical girls, though, and they respected that. Or, rather, they accepted that.

Stepping into a smaller residential area, the two girls could hear the faint sound of child laughter and the sound of a few balls bouncing hitting the asphalt.

"I'm glad I don't live in a neighborhood with kids around," Ray remarked as they continued walking.

"Really? I think it's a lot better that way!" Mira responded, looking over at Ray.

"They're too loud. Too annoying."

"But aren't you a kid, too?"

"I'm almost sixteen! I'm not a kid, you're more of a kid than I am!"

Mira just laughed, a huge smile across her face. Although both of them stopped when they heard the sound of a ball coming closer. Mira knelt down and picked up the ball, but there was something strange about its appearance. The two-dimensional and empty shading, the weightlessness, the looming feeling of dread- they both knew what it was.

Both of their soul gems flashed as the girls were absorbed into the labyrinth. Two children still seemed to be running around, following the fake balls and passing them to each other. Ray quickly ran to the kids and slapped the ball out of their hands. With a trumpet buzz, the ball disappeared into the confetti-littered labyrinth floor. The children stared at both of the girls, their eyes nearly rolled back.

"What did you do that for?" One of them asked.

"You took it away! You took it away!" The other yelled.

"Ray, they have a witch's kiss," Mira pointed out, taking a step back. "We should call Jam and Miss Fayen."

"I doubt we're in the radius for telepathy to work. Try it, but don't expect anything from it."

Ray transformed into her magical girl outfit, summoning one pistol for each hand. The children flung themselves at her, but she just used her own legs to kick them to the walls of the labyrinth. They seemed to be too weak to move, but familiars were beginning to swarm. Ray then began to shoot each one down while Mira worked on trying to reach the veteran magical girls using telepathy.

" _Jam! Miss Fayen! It's Mira, we ran into a labyrinth off Kitre Station in one of the residential streets,"_ Mira sent out, hoping someone would hear.

After about five seconds, there was a response.

" _Good work, girls."_ It was Autumn, and she seemed rather close. " _I will notify Jami, and we'll be there soon. What's the situation?"_

" _Familiars. Lots of 'em,"_ Ray butt in. " _Probably a weak witch, then. Seems like it's overcompensating."_

" _No matter, you two stay safe. We'll be there soon,"_ Autumn signed off.

Mira transformed following Ray, and the two descended deeper into the labyrinth. They seemed to employ an interesting teamwork strategy: Mira herding all of the familiars into a single spot in order for Ray to shoot them down or alternatively Ray blasting them into a corner in order for Mira to slice them all in succession.

The familiars that showed up were small graduation caps, seeming to be coming from the ceiling of the labyrinth while cackling and repeating distorted phrases that neither of the girls could decipher. Each had either a blue or white hue, the tassels gold and tangled with thorns and barbed wire. This made them particularly easy to grab a hold of with Mira's sword; the barbs or thorns entangled in the tassels nearly stuck to her swords.

Soon enough the two girls had made it to the center of the labyrinth merely by continuing onward to take down familiars. The witch was standing on an extremely high golden podium, a human's skeleton as the upper half with a blue gown on the bottom half. The hands of the witch extended as golden tassels, the tassels waving in the odd pseudo-weightlessness of the labyrinth. Flower necklaces and gift bouquets littered the floor along with the confetti from the previous hallways. School bells rang in both of the girls' ears, shaking the floor and rattling the very air that they were breathing.

"Is that really a dead person?" Mira asked Ray, staring right into the skeleton's empty eye sockets. The two seemed to not break their gaze from the other; Mira's eye was getting lost in the black emptiness.

"No, it's a witch. Probably just looks like that 'cause it knows it's disturbing," Ray kissed one of her pistols and threw it into the air, catching it after it had extended into what appeared to be a huge over-the-shoulder bazooka. It was still white and pink, just like her pistols, decorated with holographic stickers of cartoon bunnies, cats, hearts, candy, and phrases like "boom" and "bang." She took a protective stance, taking a deep breath as the launcher started gathering energy and glowing bright pink.

Mira took the hint and started sprinting around the witch at her usual breakneck speed. She sped up the podium and circled the witch with the blades of her swords heading towards the center. With each cut, the bone of the skeleton ripped and just produced red tassels. The further the cut, the longer the tassel. Soon, all of the tassel strings wrapped around Mira's sword and thrust her into the labyrinth ceiling before gravity took care of the rest.

Ray's weapon finally ended its charging period, and with a whistle of command from her it released an immensely powerful ray of pink and white energy towards the witch. The force was so great that Ray's shoes pierced spikes into the ground of the labyrinth to keep her from toppling over. Mira, not having such restraints, was thrown back but clung onto Ray's ankle.

Pink clouds of smoke cleared, the witch's skull fell off from the top of the podium. It cracked each time it hit something until it finally rolled over to the two magical girls. Ray aimed the bazooka straight at the center of the skull, but it was too late for one more charge.

The skull's jaw cracked and fell off, releasing dark red tassels in every direction. Mira tried to cut them with her sword, but the sheer number of them was too much for her sword to handle. It simply got caught from her grip.

"And, now!"

The labyrinth filled with a light, warm, angelic light. Although blinding to the magical girls, it stunned the skull just enough for the tassels to cease their movement. A blade, seemingly made out of light, cut the skull in half and then a flaming blue arrow pierced it into pieces. The labyrinth faded away, revealing Autumn and Jami both in magical girl costume. Autumn faded the blade on her umbrella and ran over to the younger magical girls, hugging them tight.

"Goodness, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay."

"We're okay, Miss Fayen!" Mira smiled, leaning into the hug. "Thanks for the help!"

"Well, we're a team, aren't we?" Ray laughed and tried to get away from the hug.

Jami cleared her throat, showing them the grief seed that was left by the witch that they had just defeated. Such a looming presence of dread in the smallest of sizes.

"I think we have more important business to take care of here," Jami remarked, tossing the grief seed to Autumn. "Seniority."

"Oh, right."

Autumn touched the grief seed to her soul gem positioned at her forehead. A small amount of impurities were instantly absorbed into the grief seed, leaving Autumn's gem completely clear. She then tossed it to Jami who repeated this procedure. Ray was next in line, although there were quite a bit of impurities in her soul gem that seemed to almost overwhelm the grief seed. It seemed to be leaking some of the impurities, the dreadful feeling becoming imminent.

" _That grief seed cannot restore any more magic. A witch will hatch from it if it is not taken care of in a timely manner."_

The incubator sat behind them, scratching its ear.

"But Mira hasn't gotten her's restored yet," Ray pointed out. "Can't it take a little more?"

" _No. A grief seed has limited capacity. Mira will need another grief seed in order to restore her magic. This grief seed is at maximum capacity."_

The group looked at each other, but it was Mira to speak up first.

"It's okay! We'll find another witch soon," She smiled, taking the grief seed herself and tossing it to the incubator.

"Yes, but then it's seniority rule," Autumn sighed. "You will be last in the order."

"Then I'll just use less magic," Ray conceded, shrugging. "I have no problem doing that."

"That's a good idea, Ray. But since you are quite new at this, leave it to the veterans to conserve magic. We will conserve magic usage unless absolutely necessary."

"Isn't that what we always do anyway?" Jami asked..

"Well, I'll try it. If it doesn't work then I'll stop. How's that?" Ray seemed rather impatient with this argument.

Autumn smiled and gave a soft sigh.

"So long as you do not endanger yourself, it will be fine. Mira, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay! Tired, though."

"Then let's get you back home, okay? We can discuss more logistics later."

The four of them walked together back to Mira's apartment, and, once Mira had made it inside, decided to depart. Ray took the speed train back to her district. Autumn and Jami took the usual train in order to reach the college.

"I'm glad that we were able to get to the labyrinth so quickly. Jami, you really have an eye for those, don't you?"

"I guess so. Don't you see them, too? The entrances?"

"Only when they're empty. To be honest, I never exceeded in finding them unless I was already in them."

"That's fair. But they're fairly obvious."

"You speak bluntly, Jami."

"Yeah?"

"I really don't think I need to tell you again, but please keep it a little hidden when talking to the little ones. They might think you're upset with them if you speak so…"

"Mean?"

"I was looking for a better word, but to put it simply." Autumn leaned her head against her hand on the table. "Just be a little kinder to them. You can be blunt with me, but please show them some consideration."

"I'll try, but I try not to make false promises." Jami leaned against her seat.

Their train car was quiet for the rest of the ride.


End file.
